Faculties

While Bielefeld University offers many options to study, it is known for its faculty of sociology, the only one in Germany. It is associated with Norbert Elias and Niklas Luhmann, who were professors there. The faculty of history launched the "Bielefeld School" of Social History under Hans-Ulrich Wehler, while the Laborschule and Center for Interdisciplinary Research (ZiF) are projects of the faculty of educational science.

The university has the following faculties:

• Faculty of biology
• Faculty of chemistry
• Faculty of history, philosophy and theology
  • Department of history
  • Department of philosophy
  • Department of theology
• Faculty of public health
• Faculty of linguistics and literature
  • Department of art and music
• Faculty of mathematics
• Faculty of educational science
• Faculty of physics
• Faculty of psychology and sports
• Faculty of Law
• Faculty of sociology
• Faculty of technology
• Faculty of business administration and economics

Oberstufen-Kolleg at the University of Bielefeld

The Oberstufen-Kolleg is an educational and research project from the University of Bielefeld and the State of North Rhine-Westphalia. The Kolleg is a combined high school and college that combines the Abitur with the core curriculum of the university Grundstudium (roughly, "basic studies"), i.e., subjects from the freshman and sophomore years. The students may attend normal undergraduate college lectures at the University of Bielefeld, just like any other university student. The program has a duration of 3 or 4 years, although some talented young people have completed it in 2.5 years. The students are usually between 18 and 25 years old and come from different cultural and educational backgrounds; many of them have not attended a Gymnasium before.

The Oberstufen-Kolleg is a UNESCO Project School and as such it aims for international understanding and cooperation. Since 1998, the Kolleg has worked together with the German School of Guayaquil in a charitable project to help in the development of the town of Daular, Ecuador, which project won a United Nations Award in 2006/2007 for its unique international concept.

Library

Bielefeld University Library occupies most of the first floor of the main university building and contains over 2.2 million volumes. It has long opening hours and is open every day of the year, from 08:00 until 01:00 Monday to Friday, and from 09:00 to 22:00 during weekends and public holidays.

The library's projects include the exploration and development of tools and systems to improve access to an increasing number of electronic resources. It works with commercial system suppliers to meet the specific needs of academic libraries—collaborations that have resulted in developments such as BASE (Bielefeld Academic Search Engine), by which metadata is collected from scientific repository servers and indexed, along with data from selected web sites and data collections, using FAST software.

Protests against tuition fees

Bielefeld University was one of the centers of student protests in the fight against the introduction of tuition fees. In the course of the protests, the central hall and the university president's office were occupied by protesting students for over a month. In a vote organised by the AStA and the students parliament, about 94 percent of the participants voted against the introduction of tuition fees, although only 22 percent of the students cast their vote. This is comparable to similar results at other German universities.

In its session of July 12, 2006, the university senate decided to introduce tuition fees of €500 per semester, beginning in 2007.

In August 2006, a universal key for the university went missing during a senate session. After that, multiple cases of arson and defacement of university property were reported. University president Dieter Timmermann was a particular target of these attacks. The cost of the damage, mainly due to the replacement of thousands of locks, was estimated at over a million euros.

Location

The university is located in the west of Bielefeld next to the Teutoburg Forest. The main building, which houses all the faculties and institutes, as well as the large library, is a functional concrete structure, typical of the 1960s.

Intercity trains running between Cologne/Bonn and Berlin stop regularly at Bielefeld, and the university can be accessed via city tram (Line 4) in about 10 minutes from the city center—or in about 15 minutes by car. The nearest airport, Paderborn/Lippstadt, is about 50 kilometres southeast of Bielefeld.

Statistics

参考文献

External links

• Welcome to Bielefeld University Information for international students
• Universität Bielefeld (German) Official site
• Official site of the Oberstufen-Kolleg of the University of Bielefeld
• Cooperation with the German School Guayaquil